I-9 Compliance Checklist: Common Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

The Form I-9 is one page, takes ten minutes, and generates more employer penalties than almost any other routine HR document. Not because employers hire unauthorized workers — the overwhelming majority of penalties are for paperwork violations on forms completed for workers who were fully authorized.

Missing signatures. A date in the wrong box. Section 2 completed on day four. Forms retained six years past the destruction date. Each is trivial individually and each is penalized per form, which is what turns a sloppy filing cabinet into a six-figure assessment.

The Rules That Bind

Section 1 — the employee's part

• Must be completed no later than the employee's first day of employment
• May be completed after the employee accepts a job offer, but not before
• The employee completes it themselves, or with a preparer or translator who must also complete the certification block
• Every field must be filled — "N/A" where a field does not apply, not blank
• The employee must sign and date it
• The attestation of status must be selected, and if the employee attests to being an alien authorized to work, the additional required information must be provided

Section 2 — the employer's part

• Must be completed within three business days of the first day of employment
• If employment is for fewer than three business days, Section 2 must be completed by the first day
• The employer or authorized representative must physically examine the documents — or use an authorized alternative procedure if eligible and applied consistently
• Record document title, issuing authority, number, and expiration date
• Enter the first day of employment
• The employer representative must sign, date, and provide their title and business name and address

Section 3 / Supplement B — reverification and rehire

• Used for reverification of expiring employment authorization, name changes, and certain rehires
• Do not reverify List B identity documents, US passports, or Permanent Resident Cards — even when they expire
• Reverify before the current authorization expires

The Document Rules

The employee chooses which documents to present from the Lists of Acceptable Documents: one document from List A, or one from List B and one from List C.

Three prohibitions carry independent liability:

1. You may not specify which documents the employee presents.
2. You may not request more documents than required.
3. You may not reject documents that reasonably appear genuine and to relate to the person presenting them.

Violating these is document abuse — an unfair immigration-related employment practice, penalized separately from paperwork violations and enforced by a different agency. The most common form is asking a foreign-born employee for a green card when they have already presented a valid driver's license and Social Security card. That is unlawful, even when the intent is diligence.

You are not a document examiner. The standard is whether a document reasonably appears genuine on its face to a reasonable person. You are not expected to detect sophisticated forgeries, and you should not attempt forensic scrutiny of documents presented by some employees and not others.

The Fourteen Most Common Mistakes

Number 14 deserves emphasis. A paperwork error is a paperwork penalty. A concealed paperwork error is potentially fraud. Never backdate, never white out, never re-create a form as though it had been completed on time.

The Retention Rule

Retain each Form I-9 for three years after the date of hire, OR one year after the date employment ends — whichever is LATER.

This is a calculation, not a fixed period:

Employee hired Jan 2025, terminated Mar 2025

3 years after hire  = Jan 2028   ← later, so destroy Jan 2028

1 year after term   = Mar 2026

Employee hired Jan 2018, terminated Mar 2025

3 years after hire  = Jan 2021

1 year after term   = Mar 2026   ← later, so destroy Mar 2026

Purge on schedule. Forms held past the destruction date remain subject to inspection, and errors on a form you were entitled to destroy are penalized exactly like errors on a current one. Many employers carry substantial avoidable exposure purely in old files.

Store I-9s separately from personnel files — ideally in a single binder or electronic repository. When ICE serves a Notice of Inspection you produce that repository, not a set of personnel files containing performance records and medical documentation nobody asked for.

How to Correct Errors

Errors in Section 1 — the employee corrects them. Draw a line through the incorrect information, enter the correct information, and initial and date the change.

Errors in Section 2 or 3 — the employer corrects them, the same way.

A missing form — complete a new one using today's actual date. Do not enter the original hire date as the completion date. Attach a signed and dated memo explaining when the omission was discovered and the circumstances.

Multiple or extensive errors — complete a new form, attach it to the original, and include an explanatory memo. Never destroy the original.

Use a different colored ink for corrections so they are visibly distinguishable from the original entries. This is not required, but it demonstrates good faith, which is a factor in penalty mitigation.

Running a Self-Audit

Conduct one annually, and immediately after any acquisition.

1. Reconcile forms to the roster. Every current employee should have a form; every form should correspond to a current employee or one within the retention period.
2. Apply consistent criteria. Audit all forms, or a neutrally selected sample. Do not audit based on national origin, citizenship status, or appearance — a selective audit is itself discriminatory.
3. Review each form against the checklist above.
4. Correct properly, following the protocol above.
5. Purge expired forms on the retention calculation.
6. Document the audit — scope, method, findings, corrections made, and date. This record demonstrates good faith.
7. Address the root cause. If Section 2 is routinely late, the process is broken, not the people. Build the deadline into onboarding workflow with an automated reminder.

Consider counsel where the audit surfaces a substantial defect rate, forms suggesting unauthorized employment, or an acquired population you did not onboard. What you do after discovering an issue matters as much as the issue.

E-Verify

E-Verify is separate from the I-9 and is voluntary under federal law for most employers — but mandatory for federal contractors with the relevant contract clause and mandatory in several states, sometimes for all employers and sometimes only above a size threshold. [VERIFY current state requirements.]

If you use E-Verify, three rules matter:

• Create the case within three business days of the first day of employment
• You may not take adverse action based on a Tentative Nonconfirmation while the employee is contesting it
• Apply it uniformly — running E-Verify on some employees and not others is discriminatory

Penalties

Penalty amounts are adjusted annually for inflation and are assessed with reference to factors including business size, good faith, seriousness, whether unauthorized workers were involved, and history. A documented self-audit program is a good-faith factor and can meaningfully reduce an assessment.

If You Receive a Notice of Inspection

1. You have three business days before you must produce the forms. Do not waive it.
2. Contact counsel immediately.
3. Do not correct forms after receiving the notice — corrections made post-notice generally do not mitigate, and can be characterized as falsification.
4. Produce exactly what is requested, nothing more.
5. Document everything you provide.

That third point is the one employers get wrong under pressure. The window for correction is before the notice, not after.

Frequently Asked Questions

When must Form I-9 be completed?

Section 1 by the employee no later than the first day of employment. Section 2 by the employer within three business days of the first day. For employment lasting fewer than three business days, Section 2 must be completed by the first day.

Can I ask an employee for a specific document?

No. The employee chooses which acceptable documents to present. Specifying documents, requesting extra documents, or rejecting reasonably genuine documents is document abuse and carries its own penalties.

How long do I keep Form I-9?

Three years after the date of hire, or one year after employment ends — whichever is later. Purge on schedule; retained forms past that date remain inspectable.

Do I reverify a Permanent Resident Card when it expires?

No. Do not reverify Permanent Resident Cards, US passports, or List B identity documents. Reverify only expiring employment authorization, and do so before it lapses.

How do I fix an I-9 error?

Line through the incorrect entry, write the correct information, and initial and date the change — the employee corrects Section 1, the employer corrects Sections 2 and 3. Never backdate and never use correction fluid. For a missing form, complete a new one with today's date and attach an explanatory memo.

Should we store I-9s in personnel files?

No. Keep them in a separate binder or repository so an inspection does not open unrelated personnel and medical records.

The Bottom Line

The I-9 is a deadline document. Build Section 1 into day-one onboarding and Section 2 into a three-day automated reminder, keep the forms in one separate repository, purge on the retention calculation every year, and run a documented self-audit before anyone else does. Correct properly and never conceal — a paperwork penalty is survivable, and a falsification finding is a different category of problem.

For structured instruction, explore our I-9 Training Courses, work through our HR Compliance Checklists, or review HR Recordkeeping Requirements .